Referees’ board pledges to make improvements to Var next season
Premier League clubs have been promised “change and improvements” to Var by next season.
In a slide presentation shown to executives, the Professional Game Match Officials Board said a recent survey of clubs would help “increase consistency” in decisionmaking. Results of that survey will be presented at the next shareholder meeting before reforms are implemented for match officials at coaching and training sessions in the summer.
Marginal offsides, fouls in the penalty area and red cards for serious foul play have been identified as the main issues of contention after a season when Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp and Jose Mourinho have all bemoaned the technology.
Managers, captains and sporting directors were asked to complete the survey 10 days ago when the Premier League wrote to its 20 clubs. The feedback will lead to tweaks rather than major changes in the reform plan for next season, it was initially expected.
The system remains dogged by
criticism, yet there is no chance of it being scrapped as governing bodies are standing by it. Gianni Infantino, the Fifa president, recently refused to accept Var was having a negative impact on viewing experiences, but suggested new quick-fire decisionmaking on offsides could be in place for next year’s World Cup in Qatar. Broadcasting audio of pitchside monitor reviews is also likely.
The only change set in stone for next season is the handball amendment. An about-turn, two years after “accidental” touches became punishable, means goalscorers will be penalised only when an attacker deliberately handles the ball or is “unnaturally bigger”.
Pierluigi Collina, Fifa’s referees committee chairman, said the change to the law had been considered for seven or eight months. It is the second season Var has been used in the Premier League, and clubs were also surveyed last year by officials working alongside PGMOL.